Our Projects

Featured Project

This Is My Memphis

We developed for the Memphis Tourism Foundation a visitors’ guide that showed that the city is about more than Elvis. It was part of our work as adviser to the new arm of the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Working with Stone Mantel of Colorado Springs and BPM of Pensacola, Florida, we develop city branding plans. Concerned about its future and anxious to more strongly position itself for the future, the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce hired us to develop a compelling and insightful city brand for Pensacola and Escambia County.

We develop innovative plans for creative cities who want to position themselves strongly in today’s highly competitive environment. For example, City of Delray Beach hired us to recommend ways to differentiate the beach town in the Miami mega-region and to leverage its culture and arts for competitive advantage.

We have developed numerous processes to encourage citizen engagement and to produce creative thinking. In particular, we direct compact, concentrated processes that lead to high energy, dynamic outcomes.

We have also developed informational material for Charter Schools Association to use with Tennessee Legislature in support of an amendment to state law. Also, we provided a wide range of communications work for Partners in Public Education.

Our research, messaging, positioning strategies and communications plans created momentum for a plan to convert the 4,500 acres into a great 21st century park. We developed the first park brochure, numerous talking points, mission statement, and position papers, newspaper op-ed columns and news releases.

Making good decisions is increasingly challenging. Information overload, a galloping rate of change, rising uncertainty, and few historical precedents are just some of the factors that complicate decision-making.

Our strategic plans are known for their thoroughness and insights. They have helped public and nonprofit organizations set the course for their futures with distinctive comparables and intuitive observations. Working with Linx Consulting, we developed a strategic plan for the City of Memphis Library and Information Center that resulted in increased funding and strategic focus. In addition, we have prepared strategic plans for organizations developing leadership, parks, and social service delivery systems fighting poverty.

The first sustainability plan for the Memphis region, Sustainable Shelby is a detailed and ambitious plan of action. Working with Linx Consulting, we directed the 12-month process which included a scientific poll, public events with national speakers and committees assigned to specific areas of interest, and a “digital Congress” that set priorities and ranked recommendations.

We conceived, organized and co-hosted with Richard Florida the first meeting of the “creative class” to develop a call to action for cities of North America. Convening 125 specially-invited people from 48 cities in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, we led development in three days of 10 widely-quoted principles — known as the Memphis Manifesto — that should guide the policies and priorities of cities seeking to attract and retain creative workers.

Our Talent Magnet reports apply our groundbreaking research on creative workers to the economic growth of cities. Working with the support of Richard Florida, we produced a report for Memphis that used focus groups, interviews, research and analysis to recommend specific actions to attract and retain 25-34 year-old college-educated workers.

We developed for the Memphis Tourism Foundation a visitors’ guide that showed that the city is about more than Elvis. It was part of our work as adviser to the new arm of the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The Young and Restless project is a collaboration with Portland economist Joe Cortright that has shaped the national agenda for cities through its breakthrough insights into where educated 25-34 year-olds are moving in America, why they are moving and what a city can do to win in the competition for these workers.